• €15 million whole loan for purchase and energy-efficient modernisation of office complex near Rotterdam

• Crystal Building comprises 14,000 m² of rental space in two building sections

• The borrower is Cero Invest, an experienced Dutch developer and investor

• HUK-COBURG Asset Management GmbH anchor investor with a commitment of at least EUR 50 million

• Exclusively senior secured loans up to 75% LTV/LTC

• Focus on financing in Germany and the Netherlands

 The owner-managed investment manager Aukera Real Estate AG, based in Essen, has concluded a senior secured financing for a property in the Netherlands. After refinancing a Dutch portfolio of more than 65 properties just a few weeks ago, the Aukera Real Estate Debt Lux. fund, structured as a Luxembourg S.C.A. SICAV RAIF, this time refinanced a development near completion with 531 student apartments in the city of Tilburg, which has a population of almost 230,000. The fund replaces the construction financing and refinances a volume of 60 million euros. The term of the loan is seven years.

The project “The City Tilburg” comprises around 27,000 m² of gross floor space and is being built on a site directly adjacent to the university campus. The student apartments add up to almost 13,200 m² of rentable area. In addition to various community rooms for e.g., fitness, cinema, music and games, the complex also includes a 150 m² restaurant as well as 650 bicycle and 112 car parking spaces. Designed as a green building, the complex will be equipped with efficient air-source heat pumps for heating and cooling and photovoltaic roof panels for electricity generation. The concept also includes a green roof garden. “The City Tilburg” is scheduled to be ready for occupancy in January 2024.

Refinancing with high security standards

The financing offers a high degree of security to the investors of the Aukera Fund, all German insurance companies. The loan is senior secured, the owner is an experienced, long-term investor from the Netherlands, the property has an excellent ESG standard (especially “E” and “S”) and Tilburg suffers from a chronic housing shortage. 

Patrick Züchner, CIO of Aukera Real Estate AG, explains: “We consider the student housing market segment in Tilburg as well as in other university cities in the Netherlands to be very attractive. The demand for such apartments will remain very high, not least due to foreign students. This is good for the property and also good for the investors in our fund.” 

Aukera’s fourth transaction in the Netherlands 

With this 16th transaction, the loan volume of the Aukera Fund grows to 1.58 billion euros. Of these, four transactions with a volume of 268 million euros are attributable to financings in the Netherlands. Aukera closed three of them in the past six months. 

In the current transaction, Aukera Real Estate was legally advised by the international law firm Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (BCLP) and by the law firm AKD, which is strongly represented in the Benelux countries. 

 Aukera Real Estate AG, an owner-managed investment management firm based in Essen, Germany, is lending EUR 130 million through its Aukera Real Estate Debt Fund to Connection Property Development S.A. (“Connection”). The senior secured facility will be used to finance CONNECTION (https://www.connection.lu/), an office/retail mixed-use property being marketed by Silverfinch Property & Asset Management S.A. and offering around 49,400 sq.m. of rental space. Completion is scheduled for the end of the year, and the Green Core asset will remain in Connection’s long-term investment portfolio. 50 per cent of the property is already pre-let. 

The property is located in a prime location at Rue de Bitbourg 21-25, with quick access to Luxembourg city centre as well as to the airport. The building is a Nearly Zero-Energy Building (NZEB) with a BREEAM sustainability rating of “Excellent” and an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of “AAA”. Thanks to its high energy efficiency, the building offers significantly lower operating costs than the Luxembourg market average. 

“With this bridge-to-exit financing for a prime mixed-use project carrying a BREEAM rating of ‘Excellent’, we were able to provide a credit facility at attractive conditions backed by a sustainable and future-proof asset as collateral, thereby taking optimal advantage of current market conditions for the benefit of our investors,” explains Florian Niebur, Investment Manager at Aukera Real Estate. 

“The financing is enabling us to increase the value of this Green Core property asset in a difficult market environment while also permitting an optimally timed exit 

 Aukera Real Estate AG, an owner-managed investment management firm based in Essen, Germany, is lending EUR 130 million through its Aukera Real Estate Debt Fund to Connection Property Development S.A. (“Connection”). The senior secured facility will be used to finance CONNECTION (https://www.connection.lu/), an office/retail mixed-use property being marketed by Silverfinch Property & Asset Management S.A. and offering around 49,400 sq.m. of rental space. Completion is scheduled for the end of the year, and the Green Core asset will remain in Connection’s long-term investment portfolio. 50 per cent of the property is already pre-let. 

The property is located in a prime location at Rue de Bitbourg 21-25, with quick access to Luxembourg city centre as well as to the airport. The building is a Nearly Zero-Energy Building (NZEB) with a BREEAM sustainability rating of “Excellent” and an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of “AAA”. Thanks to its high energy efficiency, the building offers significantly lower operating costs than the Luxembourg market average. 

“With this bridge-to-exit financing for a prime mixed-use project carrying a BREEAM rating of ‘Excellent’, we were able to provide a credit facility at attractive conditions backed by a sustainable and future-proof asset as collateral, thereby taking optimal advantage of current market conditions for the benefit of our investors,” explains Florian Niebur, Investment Manager at Aukera Real Estate. 

“The financing is enabling us to increase the value of this Green Core property asset in a difficult market environment while also permitting an optimally timed exit through a subsequent refinancing once the project is completed and stabilised,” adds Kindy Fritsch, Managing Director at Connection Property Development S.A. “CONNECTION is set for completion by the end of the year as scheduled, and lease marketing is proceeding at full speed.” 

With this 15th successfully closed financing transaction, the total lending volume by Aukera since its incorporation in July 2020 increases to EUR 1.52 billion. 

 Aukera Real Estate AG, an owner-managed investment management firm based in Essen, Germany, has refinanced the former Deutsche Bundesbank building in central Dresden. The new senior secured debt funding in the amount of approx. EUR 33 million has been provided by the Aukera Real Estate Debt fund, which is structured as a Luxembourg S.C.A. SICAV RAIF. The capital will also be used to finance further tenant expansions. The property is owned by a Swiss real estate development and management corporation. 

The historic listed building on St. Petersburger Strasse offers some 8,400 sq.m. of rental space and is fully leased out. The anchor tenants are the Free State of Saxony and DKMS, a company which operates Germany’s largest typing laboratory for stem cell donors on the premises. The building is located at Dresden’s finest address directly next to the Kurländer Palace. 

“Despite our fundamental caution with regard to the office asset class, this is a special case because of the tenant mix of the Free State of Saxony and DKMS, the resulting high security of cash flows, and the superb location, which together convinced us of the attractiveness of this refinancing opportunity,” explains Markus Schulz, Investment Manager at Aukera Real Estate. 

The international law firm Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (BCLP) advised Aukera Real Estate on the transaction. With this 14th successful financing since Aukera’s founding in July 2020, the company’s total lending has now grown to EUR 1.39 billion. 

Aukera Real Estate AG, an independent investment management firm based in Essen, Germany, has successfully completed a senior secured financing of more than EUR 150 million for a Netherlands real estate portfolio. The deal, executed through the Aukera Real Estate Debt Lux. fund, a Luxembourg S.C.A. SICAV RAIF, encompasses not only the refinancing of an existing portfolio of more than 65 properties but also the financing of targeted ESG measures to further optimize the portfolio. The borrowers are companies of the Amsterdam-based investment group Metroprop B.V., which has been active in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany for more than 45 years. With this most recent financing, Aukera’s total lending since its founding in July 2020 has now grown to EUR 1.36 billion.

The Netherlands real estate portfolio consists primarily of residential and commercial properties in excellent central locations in various cities and includes space leased to essential local providers such as supermarkets. More than half of the properties are in Amsterdam. Of the total rentable space of approx. 86,400 sq.m., almost all is leased out. The portfolio thus offers the fund’s institutional investors, which are German insurance companies, a high level of cash flow security. The strength of this senior secured financing is further boosted by the extensive expertise of Metroprop in Amsterdam as well as the planned improvements to many of the properties to make them more energy efficient and thus better as long-term investment holdings.

 “Our business relationship with Metroprop founder Jos van de Mortel goes back more than six years,” says Lars Armgart, Chief Executive Officer of Aukera Real Estate. “Even in challenging environments, the investor has repeatedly managed to strengthen this portfolio through targeted measures, thereby delivering stable performance. This excellent track record convinced us to support Metroprop yet again with this refinancing transaction.”

 “We are very pleased and satisfied that we have been able to refinance this portfolio in this way, without any negative cash flow impact, so that we can continue our strategy of investments that combine sustainability with good returns,” says Jos van de Mortel, founder and owner of Metroprop B.V. “In this respect, we are already among the leaders in the European market.”

Aukera Real Estate was advised on the transaction by the international law firm of Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (BCLP) and by Voorhorst Van Waegeningh Advocaten in Utrecht. Metroprop was advised by Finway as legal counsel and by PolarReal Debt & Capital Advisory as financing advisor.

Three further pipeline deals totalling more than EUR 200 million

Aukera Real Estate anticipates three further transactions in the coming weeks, including the refinancing of a German object in the amount of EUR 30 million as well as financings of real estate portfolios in Luxembourg and the Netherlands with a combined amount in excess of EUR 175 million. These will be Aukera’s fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth transactions since its founding.